afterglow

Chapter 671: The Return of the God of War? Chess Action

Under the sea, the two copper propellers of the Zhiqing 54 sped up, and the stern rudder also tilted to one side. In the distance, more than 20 torpedoes were rushing towards them at high speed.

The gray-white painted anti-submarine ship turned to the right and the hull was obviously tilted.

"Commander Zhou, stand firm!" Peng Chang reminded.

The speed of the warship cannot be underestimated. It felt like being on a bus making a sharp turn. Zhou Changfeng held the anti-collision helmet with his left hand and held the handrail beside him with his right hand to avoid falling.

American-made aerial torpedoes passed through from the left one after another, the closest of which was only a few dozen meters away. A series of snow-white waves were clearly visible, as if they were just around the corner.

Everyone watched as they stabbed at the huge and clumsy freighter behind them like slow spears.

"Beware!"

"It's coming!"

Just as many people were looking at the torpedoes with lingering fear, a few screams of surprise were heard from the side.

As he turned his head, a dazzling, spinning fireball came into view, and it quickly grew larger!
The PBM sailor that was hit by the 38.4㎜ tracer bullet had half of its wing broken off, and the aviation gasoline leaking from the fuel tank turned the entire plane into a fireball, which then fell in a spin out of control.

"Boom—crash—"

The seaplane passed over Zhiqing 54 and hit the sea at high speed, disintegrating instantly. The American crew members inside must have been killed.

Some gasoline and debris spilled during the flyby fell on the deck and caused more than a dozen fires, and the sailors rushed to put out the fires.

At this moment, a loud bang came from a distance, followed by a second one.

After dodging three torpedoes, the Taixun, a Type 64 fast-built cargo ship No. 627, was still hit by two torpedoes on the bow and the middle of the hull.

The power of the underwater explosion of Topex explosives was so terrible that the fragile freighter became visibly tilted after just a few breaths.

The anti-aircraft guns of the Taixun stopped roaring, and through the telescope one could see crew members running around on the deck. Some were trying to lower lifeboats, while others had already chosen to abandon ship and jump into the sea in panic.

A few dozen seconds later, another freighter farther away was also hit by a torpedo.

The explosion caused a fire, and wisps of black smoke poured out of the deck ventilation pipes and rose into the sky.

"The Qinpi goes to rescue people, and the other ships are on alert and pay attention to radio interception." The order from the commander of the escort fleet came over the radio frequency.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but feel a little scared, but then he was glad that he had made the right choice when he set out.

It is known that an important target like a cargo ship, which is both clumsy and fragile, will not escape the disaster, and a small anti-submarine ship will be safer.

In fact, in addition to Zhou Changfeng and his group, some civil servants, technical officers, and military reporters also boarded the Boxer 311 transport fleet from Midway Island to Hawaii.

There were more than a dozen such people on the sinking Taixun. The sailors looked at the rapidly sinking freighter with great concern, and estimated how many people would not be able to escape in time and would be eaten by the fish.

More than half an hour later, the two cargo ships, along with the tens of thousands of tons of supplies they were carrying, sank to the deep seabed. The sea surface returned to peace, with only a large amount of floating debris remaining.

After all the people who had abandoned the ship were rescued and counted, it was found that seventeen crew members and passengers were missing.

Zhou Changfeng saw that there seemed to be some people gathered on the decks of the other cargo ships, and they were throwing something into the sea one after another.

He picked up the telescope and observed carefully, and found that what seemed to be thrown down were various cans?

Peng Chang explained with a calm expression: "Since the war began, this custom has gradually emerged among civilian sailors, and it is also a way to comfort themselves."

"It seems to have evolved from the Dragon Boat Festival customs."

“That’s indeed what they say.”

Freighters are merchant ships, and the crew members on board are not soldiers - even though many freighters are equipped with various self-defense weapons.

After years of trials, the Ming army's escort fleet has accumulated rich experience. The frequent attacks on transport fleets by US military aircraft in the past two months are no longer a rare occurrence as before.

After the attack, the radio monitoring teams of each ship intercepted telecommunications from the southwest sea.

As with the attacks last month, it was clearly American submarines, unwilling to take any risk, watching from a distance and guiding the aircraft to attack.

If we plot the telecommunication directions detected by the two warships at the head and tail of the fleet on the nautical chart, the intersection of the two lines is the approximate location of the US submarine, which is more than 20 kilometers away.

This was far beyond the return fire distance stipulated in the escort regulations. After reporting the situation to the anti-submarine squadron at Midway Island, the Geng Zi 311 transport fleet continued to move towards Hawaii.

It was already noon the next day when Oahu Island came into sight. The moment we stepped onto the Pearl Harbor dock meant that this thrilling and dangerous journey was finally over.

A large group of military and political leaders were waiting here to greet us, and there were many familiar faces.

"Welcome back from your injury, Commander!" someone shouted.

Yao Liangchuan sighed, "Since you left, the morale of the corps has been unstable, and the enemy planes have dropped a lot of leaflets."

"I'm back now, aren't I?" Zhou Changfeng put his hands on his waist and looked around, saying with satisfaction: "It looks OK, the shelves are not messy, and the order is good."

Even as he was speaking, several excited military reporters stepped forward quickly. Zhou Changfeng, who understood what he meant, cooperated by arranging troops and giving instructions.

Photographers raised their cameras and took pictures, vying to record this scene.

This time the God of War has truly returned.

"Go to the headquarters. I want a report on the troop sequence and readiness status." Zhou Changfeng said with his head tilted.

"Yes!"

The clouds of war are approaching and a storm is about to come.

The Ming army submarine force operating in the eastern Pacific reported that the number of US military troop transport ships discovered was far greater than before, and that various telecommunications exchanges had been frequent in the past week. The Toshoma team estimated that the US military was very likely to carry out military operations.

The furnishings of the Hawaiian Corps' headquarters had not changed much. Looking at the neatly arranged notes, pens, ink bottles, books and other personal belongings, Zhou Changfeng smiled knowingly.

The lieutenant colonel military intelligence officer came over with a folder in his left hand, raised his right hand to his chest and saluted, "Commander-in-Chief, this is the corps' military statistics."

① Army combat troops deployed on Oahu——

>7th, 22nd, 126th Infantry Divisions>3rd Tank Brigade, 101st Independent Tank Battalion, 602nd Independent Assault Tank Team

>36th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade (112 36mm cannons and 144 mm cannons)

>The 6rd Railway Artillery Battalion (192 24mm railway guns, 20.8 mm anti-aircraft guns)

>19th Engineering Brigade
>2nd Field Replacement Brigade

②Naval combat forces deployed on Oahu——

>1st Landing Army (stranded on Maui due to lack of a Marine Corps regiment, and some technical equipment was not fully replenished)

>第一二二、第一二三、第一二八、第一二九、第一三〇、第一三一独立岸防炮营（48门144㎜岸防炮、11门6英寸岸防炮、12门192㎜岸防炮、3门352㎜岸防炮）

>乙字七十六分舰队（3艘超级驱逐舰、11艘驱逐舰、12艘护卫舰、9艘扫雷舰、4艘布雷舰、88艘鱼雷艇和炮艇）
③ Air Force combat forces deployed on Oahu Island——

>800st, nd, rd and th Fighter Squadrons (about fighters)

>140st Interceptor-Bomber Squadron (approximately fighter-bombers)

>280th and th Light Bomber Divisions (about medium bombers)

> 140nd Torpedo Squadron (about shore-based torpedo planes)

>第六、第十三防空旅，第一四五、第一四六、第一五〇独立高射炮营（144门96㎜高射炮、48门20.8㎜高射炮、108门38.4㎜高射炮）

In addition, there were some Korean and Japanese vassal troops, including more than a hundred aircraft and thousands of ground troops.

Even without taking into account the several divisions on Lanai, Kauai, and Niihau, the size of the Ming army on Oahu alone was as large as 200,000.

As the most elite heavy military group, the Hawaiian Corps is undoubtedly the essence of the Ming Dynasty's army, navy and air force. Zhou Changfeng is very skeptical whether the US military has enough willingness to counterattack, or whether it is purely out of helplessness.

"Put yourself in their shoes. If I were a U.S. military commander and saw the enemy situation like this... I wouldn't want to fight at all."

Zhou Changfeng smiled bitterly and complained to the officers in front of him.

Everyone laughed and the atmosphere was quite relaxed.

"Not to mention two months, we won't be able to finish it even in two years!" said Mao Yingqing, commander of the Seventh Division, contemptuously.

Zhou Changfeng looked at the well-mannered logistics assistant thoughtfully and asked, "When I left, there were about 460,000 tons of supplies on the books. How much do we have now?"

The latter answered without hesitation: "Reporting to the commander, 523,300 tons. A total of eight fleets have been sent in the past two months. This is the amount minus the losses along the way."

"Okay." Zhou Changfeng instructed the military and political deputy, "The equipment and supplies are sufficient, so there is no need to worry. The most important thing right now is the morale of the army. Pay attention to the various leaflets dropped by the enemy. Don't lie to cover up the truth. The overall situation is good now, so there is no need to be shy about telling the truth."

"Commander, rest assured. The entire army has confidence and knows that the fleet is only repairing and preparing. We are determined to annihilate the invading enemy."

"Well, that's good."

In fact, Zhou Changfeng suddenly wanted to brag - even a million-strong army could not capture the impregnable Island of Oahu.

However, considering that people who boasted throughout history never had a good ending, he gave up the idea and decided it would not be too late to talk about it until the eve of victory.

On the last day of early January, a number of good and bad news came one after another.

The first news was that the bloody Battle of Bundaberg came to an end. Faced with the Ming army's continuous bombing and attacks, the US-Australian coalition forces paid a heavy price to defend the gateway to Brisbane. The Australian army alone lost about 20,000 manpower.

The second piece of news was the changes in North Africa. After reorganizing, the French army lured the enemy into taking the initiative, divided and surrounded the Canadian Armored Division, and severely damaged it, eliminating the biggest threat. The French army then launched a series of strong attacks for several days and successfully captured Algiers. The North African battlefield ushered in a major turning point.

The third piece of news was confirmation that the U.S. military was about to attack. Reconnaissance aircraft discovered that a large number of landing ships, landing craft, and amphibious transport vehicles were assembled in the coastal area east of the Oshima Island. It was obvious that the offensive was imminent.

The Military and Political Department of the Hawaiian Corps issued a pre-war training order, indicating that a fierce collision was about to happen.

"Our army is well-trained, well-fed, and well-stocked with ammunition. Even if a powerful enemy attacks, there is no need to fear. All soldiers must be loyal to their duties, fight bravely, and do their best to inflict heavy damage on the enemy. Those who desert in battle or undermine the morale of the army will be shot without mercy."

After more than a week of silence, the US Air Force suddenly became active again.

As expected, the two airports on the Mokapu Peninsula east of Oahu were the first to be attacked, and groups of US fighter jets and bombers bombarded the airports and roads.

In the past, the US military generally did not pay attention to the sturdy reinforced concrete aircraft bunkers, but this time they abnormally began to attack the aircraft bunkers, but the effect was not good.

On November 11, the U.S. Marine Corps Air Force deployed a new model of Corsair, the F1U-4D, which had undergone minor modifications and was equipped with a water jet afterburner that could urgently increase horsepower by 1.

More than a dozen B-25s were responsible for spreading chaff, and several B-24s were responsible for active electronic jamming. Under the cover of these electronic warfare aircraft, a large number of aircraft swept across the Mokap Peninsula.

Fortunately, those French centimeter-wave radars played their due role, and after a period of research, fighter units and air defense units are no longer at a loss as they were when they first encountered electronic warfare.

The air raids, air battles, and air defenses were fierce throughout the day. A reporter accompanying the army described it this way: "Enemy planes were flying all over the sky, the flashes of shells were crisscrossing, and the ground was a sea of ​​fire, like a group of ferocious wasps besieging a bonfire."

The Ming army's air defense forces shot down more than a dozen US planes throughout the day; the fighter unit lost 9 of its own planes and captured 10 bombers and 4 fighters. The famous second lieutenant pilot Wang Lihua flew a red tit and single-handedly took down 1 bomber and 2 fighters, becoming a ace in one fell swoop.

When a large number of veterans were recalled to their homeland, the half-new and half-veteran Wang Lihua stayed behind and became a senior whom many rookies vied to seek advice from. He was one of the first pilots to come into contact with the Type 2 fighter-bomber and quickly adapted to this type of emergency fighter.

The short and thick fuselage shape of the Titmouse obviously has a poor aerodynamic appearance. Many people criticize its extremely poor off-axis performance and poor handling feel. Its only advantage is that its high-horsepower engine gives it terrible climbing ability.

Because the Chickadee has a very short flight range and cannot be deployed by transfer, it can only be transported by sea. Therefore, only the 1st and 2nd squadrons of the 1st Destroyer Squadron on Oahu completed the re-equipment, totaling more than 90 aircraft.

The American pilots who suffered a lot of losses gave it the nickname "Daikon", which means a kind of white radish in East Asia.

The high-intensity air warfare lasted from January 1 to January 11. At the huge cost of more than 1 aircraft losses, the US military once again suppressed three of the nine airports on Oahu. Lieutenant General George Kenney, commander of the 17th Air Force, reported that this was the limit. The Ming army's electronic confrontation level had increased, and it was suspected that an unknown new radar system had been deployed.

At this time, a large task force appeared off the coast north of Oahu. About 200 warships of various types continued to approach despite intermittent air attacks.

This time, the TF-58 task force was ordered to cover the landing of the 1st Marine Division, the 4th Marine Division, and the 38th Infantry Division on Oahu Island, and to act as a pioneer to open up a landing site suitable for the deployment of subsequent troops.

Operation codename: Operation Chess, also known as Operation Chess.

On the bridge platform outside the Iowa, Rear Admiral Alexander Vandergrift said solemnly: "This may be the biggest challenge we will face."

Lieutenant General Richmond Turner, who was holding binoculars, sighed deeply and said in a deep voice: "Perhaps this will be more difficult than the German attack on Gibraltar."

(End of this chapter)